Evaluating Co-Founders, How did you do it?

You have to be careful on selecting your co-founder. I know it's an already cliché to mention it, but selecting one is like selecting a spouse to marry.

You need to know the person first, and even some investors and accelerators dismiss automatically startups because the founders didn't meet before working together in the startup.

If you're doing a tech startup, the co-founder should have a technical background if you don't have it. That will save you a lot of money when you're bootstrapping as well as making sure you deploy a great product as soon as possible.

Once you want to work with someone, my best advice is to hire them to do a project or a task inside the startup. More than words, you need to see them in action and that way you can evaluate your chemistry as a team.

When you already worked the details and decided to create a startup together, you need to be smart about the plans. You need to sign a partnership agreement and put the equity in a vesting option.

In Silicon Valley, the standard vesting period is 4 years with a one year cliff. After one year, the founders fully own of the 25% of their shares. That means if they leave the company before the first year, they will not have equity in the company.

Having all that in mind, I think it will help you select the best co-founder possible and also be a better bet to investors if you ever decide to raise money. I hope it helps!

Understand their background and ask them to give examples of what they did. Ask questions that define their character. Ask them what their goals are and why they would want to be involved in starting a company. Do these things align? If they do, agree to do a three month trial period to see if you can actually work together.

When you sit to evaluate a co-founder keep in mind the following traits in him/her:
1. Complementary strengths
Like any relationship, you are at your best when each person brings something to the table that complements and supports the other. Recognizing your strengths makes it easy to define your roles in the partnership, and that definition makes it easier to hold one another accountable as the business grows. You will challenge each other to consider things you would not normally see on your own.
2. A thirst for knowledge
A perfect co-founder is one who recognizes that he or she has a lot more to learn. The concept of constant improvement is a strong value to have. The people best suited for start-up life are the ones ready to learn more and take the business beyond what either thought was possible.
3. Shared passion
A co-founder who brings a financial investment is terrific -- and might be the one thing you need to get a start-up off the ground. That is what brought together Gary Lambert Jr. and Zack Carpenter, the founders of Cyclops Vapor, an eliquid manufacturer. Driven by the desire to produce a quality product that made it easier for people to stop smoking, the two shared a common passion that propelled their company to the top in their industry.
4. Adaptability
In any new business, you’re likely to encounter a fair number of surprises, so find someone who won’t sweat the small stuff and can be flexible when the going gets rough and tough decisions need to be made. You also want to find a co-founder who is not above handling the small tasks that need to be dealt with.
5. Serious energy
You might think you have got enough energy for the team, but you always want to be backed up by someone that has at least as much, if not more, than you.
6. Integrity and honesty
When you are involved at the ownership level, there are so many ways for money to disappear and for people to be dishonest. Those things do not have to be illegal to permanently damage your business, either. Communicate up-front that there is always an expectation for 100 percent honesty -- no exceptions.
7. Emotional stability
Emotional stability involves the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. Getting angry with vendors and customers or falling apart under the weight of stress is detrimental to business. Having success as a start-up relies on an owner’s ability to stay calm and not collapse under pressure.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath